With ever-increasing world trade and other global interaction, the desirability and benefits of understanding different languages and cultures have perhaps never been more apparent. From this stems an increasing interest in foreign language teaching aids.
Traditional teaching aids include classroom instruction, flash cards, audio cassettes, magazines, and books. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages. Classroom instruction provides valuable interaction with instantaneous feedback, but requires the student to conform to the classroom schedule and pace. Flash cards, magazines and books are relatively inexpensive, but do not provide audible feedback to the student. With audio tapes, the student may not have access to written text.
More recently, computer software programs have become available for teaching foreign languages. The popularity of computer software teaching aids is, in large part, due to the proliferation of multimedia computers. Multimedia computers, which have the ability to combine text, sound, and graphics, have presented significant opportunities for the creation of interactive computer-based teaching aids that cater to those wanting a relatively inexpensive, and yet effective, means of independent language study.
One popular computer software program that instructs English speaking persons on the Japanese language is "Power Japanese,"0 distributed by BayWare, Incorporated of Mountain View, Calif. "Power Japanese" and similar language learning programs provide a number of advantages over traditional teaching methods. In particular, software-based teaching aids have the capability of combining the audio benefits of cassettes with the visual benefits of magazines and books, along with drills that may be selected based on the progress of the student. A downfall of existing software-based teaching aids is that it is sometimes still difficult to ascertain how to correctly pronounce a word or phrase simply by hearing the word or phrase.
Aside from the particular medium used as a teaching aid, another challenge in facilitating the learning process is keeping the student interested in the subject matter being taught. Mangajin, a publication devoted to Japanese pop culture and language learning, has attempted to maintain the reader's interest by publishing Japanese comic strips along with English translations of the Japanese dialog contained in the comic strips. The magazine also has published an American comic strip, i.e., "Calvin and Hobbes," with a Japanese translation of the dialog contained therein.
Despite the progress that has been made, there is still a need for the development of foreign language teaching aids that can clearly and effectively communicate the pronunciation of words and phrases in unfamiliar languages. In contrast to the prior art discussed above, the invention promotes the learning process by providing a variety of effective techniques for associating foreign words and phrases with a familiar language, and by adding a pronunciation guide to innovative audiovisual teaching and feedback techniques.